Count me among the hundreds (thousands? millions?) of heartsick saps who would crawl over broken glass in a barbed wire belt to secure a few moments in the presence of Neko Case. Actually, it’s precisely that kind of unbalanced heroine worship that makes her understandably wary of her many adulaters. But who can blame us? Have you seen that face? That hair? That voice !
Artistically, and aesthetically, Neko Case is pretty much unassailable. Unless you are blind, or deaf. Any one of the songs from her masterpiece (and best album of 2006) Fox Confessor Brings The Flood, can surgically remove your heart, and make you a fan forever. It’s this type of sentiment she is able to invoke that made the wait for her follow-up so interminable. But the end is in sight: in March, Middle Cyclone is released, and it’s hard to imagine it will disappoint. Today’s NYT has a wonderful feature which hopefully will help spread the word and get more soon-to-be lovestruck young boys (and girls) on board. She deserves it. But we can also be forgiven for selfishly wanting the Neko Case fan club to remain smaller, our own little secret. There’s only so much broken glass to go around.
